Today on Making Contact we present "Saltwater Soundwalk," an Indigenous audio tour of Seattle featuring a watery audio experience, with streams of stories that ebb and flow that intermixes English and Coast Salish languages. Indigenous Coast Salish peoples continue to steward this land and preserve its language, despite settler colonialism, industrialization and gentrification. Part story, part sound collage, this piece is scored entirely with the sounds of the waters and animals who live in and around the Salish Sea. This episode first aired in April 2023.

Saltwater Soundwalk Credits

Rachel Lam (Anigiduwagi enrolled Cherokee Nation) and Jenny Asarnow produced this work as part of FLOW: Art Along the Ship Canal, a commission from Seattle Public Utilities in partnership with the Office of Arts & Culture

Special Thanks

Commissioned with SPU 1% for Art Funds. Administered by the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture. City of Seattle, Bruce Harrell, Mayor. This episode of Making Contact was supported in part by a Moral Courage grant from the Satterberg Foundation.

Making Contact Team

• Episode host: Anita Johnson
• Segment Editor: Jessica Partnow
• Staff Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Lucy Kang, Amy Gastelum
• Executive Director: Jina Chung
• Audio Engineering: Jeff Emtman
• Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain

Music Credits

Last Kiss – Magnus Moone | Audiobinger – Enchanted Forest

Learn More

Saltwater Soundwalk | Seattle Times | Art Beat Blog

Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.